Ipswich Town manager Mick McCarthy has branded this afternoon's game at Wigan Athletic "a six-pointer".

The Tractor Boys enter the match five points above the dropzone in the Championship, while the Latics are one from bottom and four points from safety.

Both sides have a return of just 14 points from their last 14 games and rank as the division's least prolific scorers, and McCarthy expects a tough test when they head to the North-West.

"It's a six-pointer, isn't it? A six-pointer – without a doubt," he told the Ipswich Star. "We'd prefer to be three more points in front of Wigan. We want to win so we can come back here and play with a lot more confidence.

"Is it 'must-win?' If we lost and won the next six it wouldn't really matter, but if we lose [at Wigan] we're not likely to win the next six, are we? We could do with a win. We just don't want to get beaten. We've got to make sure we get something out of the game. There's got to be a starting point."

"I'm not going up there to try and get a point before anyone starts saying 'he's being really negative'. No, that's not the case. We're going there to try and win and put us in a much better position. But, with the results that we've been having, if we go there and play as well as we possibly can, we put in a good performance and end up with a nil-nil draw I'll take that."

McCarthy has previously admitted that he is unsure whether he will be able to spend in the January transfer market as the club bids to avoid being drawn into a relegation battle.